Chasing Love
by LuvHades16
Summary: A modern Apollo and Daphne story. If you are familiar with Greek/Roman mythology, you may recognize a few characters. If you are confused, just ask. I'm happy to help.


"Hey, Mister, bet you can't hit that target a hundred yards from here."

Phoebus cracked open one of his eyes and recognized the blonde, bouncy kid from yesterday. "Kid, come on, I could hit that thing with my eyes closed. Buzz off and play with your toys somewhere else. This is where real men, and one or two women, come to show off their archery."

Cupid stormed out of the archery range, fuming at the arrogance of that cheap archer. "I could hit that thing with my eyes closed," he mimicked in a high girl's voice. "I'll show him. He won't know what hit him."

The next morning, as Phoebus unlocked the archery range, Cupid snickered as he snuck in behind Phoebus. He tiptoed over to Phoebus' best arrows and dabbed a clear ointment on the tips of the heads. He glanced around, and then hid behind a large rack of bows. Phoebus rounded the corner, downing the last of his coffee, "Alright, my beauties, time to loosen up." He picked up one of the arrows smothered in paste and tapped his finger on the tip, testing the sharpness.

Suddenly, he let out a grunt and looked down at his now bleeding finger. "I guess I sharpened you too well." He put the arrow back in the quiver and went over to flip on the OPEN sign sitting in the window. "Well, hello Gorgeous." He peaked through the blinds at a young woman in a bright green blouse and khaki shorts passing on the other side of the street. Cupid giggled and crept out the door, "Bull's-eye."

He crossed the street and bumped into the woman, knocking her purse off her shoulder and onto the ground, spilling its contents. "I'm so sorry, Miss, let me clean this up for you."

He grabbed a tube of lipstick, a cell phone, and a set of car keys and shoved them into the bag. He pulled out another bottle of ointment from his coat and dabbed some on a tissue then shoved the packet of tissues into the purse. "Here you go. All cleaned up," Cupid handed the lady her purse, then stared at her face. "Is something wrong, Kid?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Miss, but your lipstick is a little messed up. You might want to clean it up."

The woman reached into her bag and pulled out the tissues. "Thanks, Kid. Say, what's your name?"

"It's Cupid Miss, and you?"

"My name's Daphne. Nice to meet you Cupid, and thanks for the – "

"Hey, You, get lost!"

Cupid looked behind him and saw Phoebus coming toward them. _Perfect._

"See you around, Daphne," Cupid dashed off around the corner.

"Sorry about him, he's a little trouble maker. The name's Phoebus, I own the archery range across the street."

"Nice to meet you too Phoebus. You'll have to excuse me; I've . . . I've got a meeting that I need to get to."

"Ah, come on Daph, what's your rush," Phoebus grabbed her arm and motioned toward his car. "Let me get you some lunch to make up for that troublemaker bugging you."

"Thanks for the offer Phoebus, but I really need to get going."

"Come on, one little bite. I'll, OW!"

Phoebus let go of Daphne's arm to check on his injured foot. Suddenly, a heavy object collided with the back of his head and he was knocked to the concrete. As he sat up dazed, he saw the retreating figure of a woman.

"Looks like you're having some more girl problems, Little Bro."

Phoebus turned to see his sister, Diana, standing over him, her hands on her hips and a quiver strapped to her back. "Don't even start, Di, I don't need any more problems today."

"Whatever you say, Little Bro, but can you at least leave me the keys to the range this time. I don't want to be stuck shooting twenty-yard still game all day again."

"Here," Phoebus stood up and tossed a small key ring to his sister, "make sure to lock up when you're done. I got a girl to catch."

He jogged toward his car and went to start the ignition, but couldn't find his keys. A rap on the window sounded and he saw Diana holding up the key ring.

"Uh, wrong keys," Phoebus blushed as he switched keys with Diana, then gunned the engine and sped off down the road, leaving Diana in a cloud of leaves and dust. Suddenly, he felt a light tug on the back and turned to check, but nothing was there. He shrugged and began scanning the many faces on the sidewalks while Cupid giggled from his skateboard as he clung to Phoebus' rear fender.

The two drove around for a few minutes before Phoebus decided to grab some lunch at the nearest McDonalds. As he sat in the drive through, he noticed a woman wearing a bright green blouse and khaki shorts come out of the restaurant, a paper bag and soda cup in her hands. "Found ya."

Phoebus gunned the engine in reverse and slid up next to the unsuspecting Daphne. "So, about that lunch," Daphne jumped in surprise and stared at Phoebus in horror before throwing her soda at him through the open window. As he got out of the car and tried to shake himself dry, Daphne bolted down the street, her paper bag dropped at Phoebus' feet. "Still trying to run, are we. Well, two can play at this game, sister."

Phoebus ran after Daphne and chased her through Subway tunnels, malls, and parks until she rushed into a large greenhouse. He grinned as he walked up to the door of the transparent building. "Ready or not, here I come."

Phoebus pushed the door open and was greeted by the smells of fresh dirt, bunches of flowers, and fresh fruit. Birds zipped by overhead, singing to each other in unending song. "If I wasn't here for a girl, I could just sit in here all day and write."

He walked over to a large counter and tapped the small sliver bell on the counter. "Yes, how can I, oh, it's you Phoebus."

"Hey Aunt Ceres, didn't know you owned this big of a jungle. It suits you."

"Thank you Phoebus, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yeah, actually, did you see a young woman run in here? Brown hair, green blouse, khaki shorts, smells like laurel leaves?"

"No, I've been in the back most of the morning. Kore, could you come here please?"

A golden haired teenager came around the corner, a basket of large, ripe pomegranates resting on her hip. "Phoebus is looking for a young woman. Did you see anyone come in a few minutes ago?"

"No, I haven't seen anyone, but Ladon did just bring in a new shipment of full grown laurel trees, so she might have slipped into the truck."

"Thanks for the help Ladies; I'm sure I'll see her around."

Phoebus walked back to the archery range where Diana and her girl friends were starting to shoot at the fifty-yard bears. He went over to his quiver and pulled out a few arrows. "So," Diana walked over and grabbed a nectar energy drink out of the fridge, "did you catch her?"

"No, she slipped away at Aunt Ceres' greenhouse."

"Well, maybe next time you shouldn't insult Venus' kid. I hear he's got a reputation for being a little prankster."

Diana downed the rest of her drink, threw the bottle in the trash, and joined her girls at the bear. Phoebus stared out the window and briefly caught sight of a blonde haired kid riding down the street on his skateboard, a look of pure mischief plastered to his face.


End file.
